


Ghoul In The Attic - You Write IT 8-06 challenge

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts Era, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-16
Updated: 2006-08-16
Packaged: 2018-10-27 11:32:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10808208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: Ron and Harry try to banish the Ghoul in the attic, but things don't go exactly as planned.





	Ghoul In The Attic - You Write IT 8-06 challenge

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

  
Author's notes: Written for the August "You Write It challenge" here at TQP.  Written with the prompt...

> _Pairing: Harry/Ron  
>  Prompt: Ron and Harry try to banish the Ghoul in the attic. Turns into something else entirely._
> 
> **Beta:** All credit goes to [](http://nefyr.livejournal.com/profile)[**nefyr**](http://nefyr.livejournal.com/).

* * *

_Smash._

  
Harry turns onto his side, shifting restlessly on the small cot.

_Creak._

  
Sighing, Harry throws one arm over his head, as if that will be enough to block out the aggravating sounds coming from the attic. 

  
_Bang._

  
Harry sticks his fingers in both of his ears, trying to block out the noises.  Except, for some reason, it seems to magnify the sounds rather than hinder them.  He isn’t sure how much more of it he can take. 

  
_Crash._

  
“That’s it!” Harry yells, throwing off his covers and sitting upright.  “I can’t take it anymore, Ron!” 

  
Ron shifts in his sleep, as if he is completely unaware of Harry’s yelling and the noises coming from upstairs.  Harry mutters about gits who can sleep through anything as he gets out of bed, sliding his feet into his slippers before padding over towards Ron’s bed.  Once there, he takes a moment to appreciate Ron’s peaceful form.  Ron’s covers have slipped down to his waist and his nightshirt has risen up to expose a pale expanse of skin dotted with freckles.  Harry is left staring as Ron turns in his sleep and stretches out his limbs, simultaneously raising his shirt even more and causing his pants to ride even lower on Ron’s hips, exposing a trail of red hairs that made a perfect path to - _Bang._   

Harry is startled out of his thoughts by another loud noise, though Ron doesn’t even flinch.  

  
Harry nudges Ron‘s shoulder.  “Ron, wake up!”  

  
“What’s it going here?” Ron mumbles incoherently. 

  
“Oh no you don’t!” Harry yells as Ron attempts to burrow back under his blankets.  Harry leans over and yanks off Ron’s covers completely.  He smiles at the amusing picture Ron makes, face scrunched up at the loss of covers and red hair sticking up at as he looks around blearily.   

  
“Oi!  What’d you do that for, mate?” 

  
“Ron, we’ve got to do something about the ghoul in attic.  It’s driving me mad!  I can‘t take it anymore.  All night it‘s been banging and clattering and knocking things over.  I can‘t get a wink of sleep.” 

  
“I didn’t hear anything.”    

  
Harry gives Ron a scathing glare, but Ron only laughs in response.   “Yes, well, not all of us could sleep through the end of the world.  You wouldn’t notice if an army of ghouls were trying to knock down your door.  I swear you could sleep through anything.”   

  
“So let me get this straight.  I was peacefully sleeping through this supposed barrage of noises, yet you felt it necessary to wake me up and let me know about these noises?”  Ron asks bemusedly.

“Erm….yes?”  Harry laughed almost nervously.  Just as Harry was about to speak again, another loud crash echoes from the attic, so loud Ron’s bedroom shakes. 

  
Ron looks straight at Harry. “Oh, right.” 

  
Harry smiles.  “Now do you get it?” 

  
“Yeah, yeah.  I get it, Harry.  Come on, let’s go then.”  Ron turns and places his bare feet on the floor as he sits up.  Once standing he extends his arms overhead and leans back in a long stretch, once again exposing his smooth stomach and a trail of red hairs embellished with freckles. 

  
Harry sucks in a deep breath and shakes his head, trying to clear his head of incoming thoughts of Ron naked. 

  
“You ok, mate?”  Ron asks, placing a hand on Harry’s shoulder. 

  
Harry looks up into blue eyes and tries to smile reassuringly. “I’m fine.” 

  
Ron doesn’t look like he quite believes him, but he smiles in return anyways and grabs his wand off his side table before making his way out of the bedroom.  Neither boy speaks as they walk down the hall and up the stairs to the attic door. 

  
Ron places his hand on the doorknob but turns to look at Harry before he turns the handle.  “I should warn you, the ghoul isn’t very nice.  I’ve never actually seen him, of course, he doesn’t let anyone see him.  But, well, the last time the twins tried to come up here they both came down with a few broken bones.  Mind you, I have a sneaking suspicion they were trying to get something nefarious out of the ghoul, because they aren‘t really known for being violent creatures, though I couldn’t tell you what they were trying to accomplish.   Best to just be on the lookout though.” 

  
“Right.  No problem.  Um, how exactly to we get it to shut up then?” 

  
Ron looks a bit startled at the question.  “Oh, hadn’t thought of that part yet.  Suppose we’ll just wing it, yeah?” 

  
“Wing it?”  Harry imagines all the possible things that could wrong in this situation without a plan, and all the possible ways one of them could get hurt.  “Sure.” 

  
Ron nods, then turns the handle and pushes the door open, causing a wave of dust to come out into their faces. 

  
Ron coughs loudly.  “Told you no one had been up here in awhile.  Mum normally won’t let anyone come up here but with her and Dad and Ginny gone for the night, she’ll never know.”  He grins mischievously, like a kid getting away with something, as he walks through the open doorway. 

  
Harry follows a second later, and walks into complete darkness. 

  
“Lumos,” Ron whispers. 

  
Harry blinks at the sudden light.  Once his eyes have adjusted, he looks around the room with intense curiosity.  He had expected the room to be empty, to be nothing but an empty room of cobwebs and dust.  He’s surprised to discover the room is scattered with piles of boxes, and that it is surprisingly large; entire sections hidden by jutting beams and scraps of junk.  Letting his curiosity get the best of him, he wanders over to the closest box and inspects it carefully.  Without thinking of the consequences he begins to try and pry the top of the box.   

  
Just as he is about to open it up Ron grabs him from behind, lifting him away from the box completely.

“Harry, are you mad?!” 

  
“’Course not.  It’s just a box,” Harry mutters, and it hasn’t escaped his notice that Ron is still standing particularly close behind him.  Ron’s grip has lessened considerably, but he is still holding onto Harry’s arms lightly.  Harry can feel Ron’s warm breath in his ear as Ron begins to speak. 

  
“Just a box?  Honestly, sometimes I forget you didn’t grow up around magic, and then you do something so monumentally dumb.  Do you have any idea what could be in those boxes?  There’s probably a good reason my mum doesn’t want anyone in this room.” 

  
“Right, sorry.  Don‘t know what I was thinking.”  Harry disentangles himself from Ron’s hold and begins to walk away embarrassed, 

  
“Hey, stop.”  Ron places his hand on Harry’s shoulder.  “Look, I was just being, um.  That is to say that I was….forget it, it doesn’t matter.  I was just worried is all.  I didn‘t want anything to happen to you.”  Ron looks equally embarrassed at his admission. 

  
“No worries, Ron.  Now how about we tackle this ghoul?”  Ron smiles, grateful for the change of subject, neither boy very comfortable with the revealing direction the conversation is leading. 

  
After several minutes have passed Harry turns back towards Ron.  “What exactly are we looking for anyways?” 

  
“Well, it’s ugly and not very smart.  Probably buck-toothed too.”   

  
“So we’re looking for Millicent Bulstrode then?”  Harry replies.  

  
Ron laughs loudly.  “Not exactly.  Shouldn’t it be easier to find, though?  Or, well it’s stopped making noises now that we’ve come up here.  Maybe we should just go back down.” 

  
“Scared, Weasley?”  Harry challenges. 

  
Ron huffs indignantly at the suggestion.  “Hardly!  Here ghoul, here ghoul.  Come out, come out wherever you’re hiding your ugly face.”   

  
A large stack of boxes is knocked over in the far corner, startling both boys.  The crash is accompanied by a slow scraping noise, as if someone or _something_ were dragging its feet across the wooden floor. 

  
“I guess we know where the ghoul is now,” Ron says, laughing uneasily.   

  
The sound continues to come closer as more boxes are knocked over roughly. 

  
“Maybe you shouldn’t have insulted it, Ron.” 

  
“Bit late for that now, mate.” 

  
The shuffling noise stops but is replaced by the wheezing sound of labored breathing.  Harry can see a gangly, black foot peeking out of the shadows underneath the center beam.  Unconsciously, he takes a step backwards, tugging on Ron’s sleeve. 

  
“Don’t tell me you’re scared, Harry.  It’s just a-” but Ron’s response is cut short when he catches sight of the corner of the ghouls face peering out at them from the darkness.  Dangerous or not, the creature is hideous and makes Ron’s toes curl.  He takes a step backwards, placing himself in front of Harry as if to block him from view.  “Come on, Harry.  Let’s get out of here.” 

  
They both take two steps backwards, very slowly, being  exceptionally careful not to startle the ghoul.  However, Harry’s slipper gets stuck on a broken floorboard and he trips, landing on his butt hard and causing tiny sparks to shoot out of this wand.   

  
Apparently taking this as an attack, the ghoul begins to move quickly out of the shadows and towards both boys. 

  
Not worrying about startling the ghost anymore, Ron helps Harry up and they sprint from the room, slamming the door shut behind them and placing a locking spell on it just in case.  Without pause, they run down the stairs and into Ron’s room, both collapsing on Ron’s bed in awkward pile, with Harry laying almost on top of Ron. 

  
“So.” 

  
“Yeah.” 

  
_Bang_. 

  
Harry groans.  “Oh no.”  He lays his head down on Ron’s chest. 

  
_Thud_.

  
Ron laughs and Harry feels the vibrations from Ron’s chest throughout his whole body.   

  
“This isn’t funny.”  Harry says seriously.  “We did all that for nothing.” 

  
“Oh, I wouldn’t say it was for nothing.” 

  
_Creak_. 

  
“Oh really, then what exactly did we accomplish?“  Harry asks curiously. 

  
“We cleared a few things up.” 

  
“Like what, Ron?  We didn‘t even manage to get rid of the ghoul; more like it got rid of us.” 

  
Ron looks at him seriously, and suddenly Harry is very aware that he is still laying on top of Ron.  Very aware that their chests are rising and falling together and that Ron’s hand is resting lightly on his lower back. 

  
Ron lifts his head just a little, bringing his face even closer to Harry’s.  “Well I don’t know about you, but I finally understood some things tonight.”  Bridging the final distance between them, he places a soft kiss on Harry’s lips, so quick and light it could almost be ignored.  Ron lets his head fall back against the bed, staring up at Harry and just waiting for some kind of reaction. 

  
Harry takes a deep breath, trying to think before he speaks; wanting desperately to not ruin whatever is happening.  As the seconds stretch by, Ron begins to look faintly worried and Harry knows it’s now or never.  Leaning down he places a simple kiss on Ron’s lips.  

  
Pulling back, he looks into Ron’s eyes and thinks that maybe he finally understands after all.    
 

  
    



End file.
